Archive for the ‘poverty in India’ Category

UN says 230 million people escaped life in the slums since 2000

China and India made “giant strides”in their housing efforts to relocate nearly a quarter of billion people out of the slums, UN Habitat agency reported.

The housing efforts were canceled out, however, by global population growth and the rural migration to cities, the report said.

Here are some of the stats:

Total number of slum dwellers in 2000 were about 777 million

Slum dwellers total this year: 827 million

Percentage increase: 6.4%

World population now: 6,809,167,223 (US Census Bureau)

Population increase in the last 12 months: 75,395,78 (US Census Bureau)

Percentage increase over the last 12 month: 1.1%

Note: Actual numbers of the slum dwellers are much larger, unless people could live in decent accommodations on less than $1.25 per day. It appears that the report used the old figures instead of the newer revised figures. “International Comparison Program’s new poverty estimates released in August 2008 show that about 1.4 billion people in the developing world (one in four) were living on less than $1.25 a day in 2005,” World Bank reported.

EDRO estimate for the number of people living on less than$1.25 per day: 2.2 billion (nearly 1 in 3 globally).

A Mumbai slum (India). Image may be subject to copyright.

UN defines a dwelling as a slum if at least one of the five factors below applies:

Lacks a permanent structure (see image)

More than three people sharing a room

Has no access to sufficient, or affordable water. Alternatively, it requires extreme effort to obtain water.

No private toilet or a public one shared with a maximum of a dozen or so people.